Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of setting a privacy mask.
Description of the Related Art
Methods of setting a privacy mask zone on a captured image have been known. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-069494 discusses a method of setting a privacy mask zone on a captured image using a display screen. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-136514 discusses another method of setting a privacy mask zone on a panoramic image that can be captured based on pan/tilt control of a camera.
Depending on the position or size of a privacy mask zone, however, sometimes the privacy mask zone cannot be set easily through intuition. For example, in a case where a privacy mask zone is small, and the privacy mask zone is dragged with a mouse on a panoramic area to change the position or size of the privacy mask zone, a precise setting through the mouse operation is difficult.
In addition, when a privacy mask zone is dragged within a range where an image can be captured at a particular zoom value corresponding to a maximum field of view of an imaging apparatus, depending on the zoom value at the dragging, the privacy mask zone cannot be dragged to an end of the range. In this case also, an intuitive setting of a privacy mask zone cannot be easily performed by a user.